UBH urges govt to disburse US$9m towards COVID-19 fight

THE United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH) last week made a distress call to government for US$9 million towards its COVID-19 facilities, which are struggling due to shortages of oxygen.

Last Friday, UBH chief executive officer Narcisious Dzvanga said the hospital was experiencing serious shortages of oxygen in its COVID-19 wards.

He said the money was needed to fully equip the hospital to fight the respiratory disease that has killed more than 974 people in the country.

Health and Child Care ministry spokesperson Donald Mujiri yesterday confirmed that UBH made a request for more funding to fight the pandemic.

“We did receive the proposed budget from UBH. It included items for use both in the short term and the long term, as well as stock reserves,” Mujiri said.

He, however, dismissed claims that UBH had insufficient oxygen for COVID-19 patients.

“We are good on oxygen stocks, with 8 000 litres in our 10 000 litre bulk tank. That is good enough to sustain them for some time,” Mujiri said.

Last Friday, Dzvanga said the ward had admitted 22 COVID-19 patients, adding that some of them required oxygen to stay alive.

He stated that UBH’s major crisis was oxygen, adding that BOC Zimbabwe Gases, which supplied them, had been forced to outsource as it was facing electricity problems.

Dzvanga also said the hospital’s bulk oxygen tank accommodated 10 000kg, but said that last week, they only got 4 000kg, which was already finished.

The hospital CEO said effective COVID-19 treatment needed adequate oxygen.

He said the hospital had a 150bed capacity, while the COVID-19 section only had a 50-bed facility, which raised questions about the country’s preparedness to fight the pandemic.

The US$9 million is needed to fully equip the intensive care unit and the high dependency unit.

UBH is one of country’s biggest referral hospitals, and has been designated a COVID-19 centre in southwestern Zimbabwe after Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital stopped taking patients.